Royal (Kevin Chilcott)

product types:

acoustic guitars

bass guitars

electric guitars

Information:

Royal was one of the brand names used by British luthier Kevin Chilcott. Chilcott was an apprentice to one of the greats of British Guitar making - Chris Eccleshall. He then set up his own workshop and between 1981 and 1989 hand made around 125 custom guitars - Acoustic, Semi-Acoustic & Electric including 12 Thru-Neck Electric Basses. This averages over 15 guitars per year for the period, but the first few years were somewhat slower as Chilcott established himself. In 1982 he exhibited his guitars for the first time - This was at the First British Guitar Show, held at The Royal Festival Hall in London, England. The majority of his guitars were made in the years 1987 to 1989 & of these, over 40 were made in the last year of production. A few of the early guitars had the logo - "Chilcott " but the majority were labelled "Royal".

The last Royal guitar was made in 1989 and Kevin took a break from guitar building. He returned in 2005 under the brand name Royale Guitars and he made signature flying Vs for Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, as well as a range of new models including the Swordstress and Bitocaster. Chilcott stopped making guitars in 2012, due to ill health.